Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks

Should authors thank reviewers for reviewing their book?

What do you do when you receive a good review for your book?  Do you thank the reviewer?

Authors often ask me if this is something they should do.  Most reviewers don’t write reviews for anything in return, so they wouldn’t be surprised by not receiving anything in return.  However, if you really appreciated their review and want to take them by surprise, thank them.

I recently reviewed Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal.  Just like the other 40 or so books I have reviewed on Amazon, I didn’t expect any thank you or acknowledgement from the author.  But to my surprise, a few days later, I received this message on my Facebook account:

Was I surprised?  Absolutely!  The personal thank you from the author made me feel a connection with him.  I’m glad I read the book and I’m glad I wrote a review.  If Satyal publishes another book someday, you can be sure I will read and review it!  That is the power of connecting with your readers.

DISCUSSION: Do you typically thank readers for reviewing your book?  If so, how do you do it?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Social Media Marketing

Authors Can Get Free Advertising Using Facebook

Facebook is a tool to connect and share with friends, family, and others in your various networks. It was started in 2004 and has since evolved from a site that was exclusively available to college to students to a worldwide social network with an audience where 50% are not college students and the fast growing demographic is the 35+ year olds. There are millions of current Facebook users and many more are signing up each day. You may have already known that, but did you know that it can also be used as a tool to get “free advertising”? Well, it can, and when used correctly, it will.

Facebook has become increasingly popular not only among individuals but also among businesses. The reason for this recent boom in Facebook and other forms of social media is because there are no time or space constraints and everything can be much more public for everyone to see. So, it helps businesses grow their network and ultimately “meet people and start conversations”. Many online consulting firms refer to this as the “online cocktail party”.

The first step in building such a network, though, is to create a business page. While you may already have a personal profile, you will want to create a business profile to support your business. The main reason for this is that Facebook has a lot of tools/options built into the business profiles that you will not be able to get with the personal profiles (such as analytics to see how much traffic you’re getting to your page and where that traffic is coming from). If you do have a personal profile, though, you will most likely want to tie that to your business profile.

Another big difference between business pages and personal profiles are how people add you to easily keep up with what you’re doing. Pages get “fans”, which only require the users to add themselves as a fan and involves no interaction on your part. This helps you build your network naturally and easily. Personal profiles, however, get “friends”. After someone adds you as a friend, you then need to accept them in order to allow them to view your profile and other information. If your business network is large (which hopefully it will be), you will not have time to go through and add all of the friends that request you.

Like many of the other social media / blogging type sites, your success is based on how well you take advantage of the give and take relationships that must be made. In the case of businesses, there will be quite a bit of giving in order to take away a new customer. However, the tools available on Facebook allow you to easily connect with your customers and engage them in your businesses and its doings. This will, of course, create a “community around your company”. That community will make it easy for you to obtain the ultimate goal – free advertising!

Once you have developed an online community of “followers”, it will be relatively easy to get the word out when things change in your business. For instance, if you introduce a new product/service offering and your Facebook “fans” catch wind of it, you can expect the majority of them to spread the word to their friends, family, etc. You may even find your fans are reposting your content within Facebook and further “advertising” what you announced. This form of advertising did not cost you anything. So, you have natural buzz about your product/service. Additionally, customers are more likely to trust natural buzz as opposed to marketing speak.

After creating your business page on Facebook, you want to remember to post interesting and informative content. Your job here is not to be a sales person. Your job is to post things to help people better understand your products or services, provide tips, or unravel a concern within your industry. In doing that, you will find yourself positioned as a natural resource and your network will begin to look to you as the go to person in your industry. In turn, you have built trust and those customers will more easily turn to you to utilize your products/services when needed (or wanted). That’s how Facebook (as well as other social networks) can be used to get free advertising.

Book Signings

The Face of Book Signings is Changing

As a new author, there is nothing more special than having your first book signing. Seeing the crowd that is anxious to meet you, talking to them about your book, selling copies on the spot — all of these things can cause even a serial author to have butterflies in their stomach. After all, you have worked so hard to write and publish your book. Shouldn’t you be entitled to a bit of celebration?

Book signings are also a rather inexpensive way to connect with your audience. However, according to an article the appeared on the New York Times website yesterday, that’s about to change – for the author’s fans at least. The decline in brick and mortar bookstore sales is forcing store owners to seek out other potential revenue streams. Some of these stores have decided to start charging customers to meet the author. The staff will then require a ticket before they can get in front of an author.

This is a good idea for well-known authors, but what about self-publishing authors who are using this as a publicity move? How many people would pay to see an unknown author? This is going to present a new set of challenges for those who have recently published or are publishing soon as many times this exposure can be critical to reaching interested readers in your community. this is one good reason to keep your marketing online with things such as virtual book tours, Twitter parties, online book signings, etc.

Also, another key point in the article is that neither the author or publisher receive any proceeds from the fee the store is charging consumers. That’s a bit odd, don’t you think?

Cheri Speaks

My Book is Copyright Protected Upon Publication – Why Do I Need to Register a Copyright?

When your book is published, it is automatically protected under copyright law. That means that no one can pass off your words as their own without your explicit permission. However, we still recommend authors register their copyright with the U.S. Copyright office. Why is this necessary, you ask? That’s a great question.

Think of it like a receipt. It serves as a proof that you purchased the merchandise you own. This entitles you to take advantage of the store’s return policy. If you lose your receipt, there are some stores that MAY allow you to exchange your item or get store credit without a receipt, but that is often at the store owner’s discretion. Copyright registration is very similar. When you need to make a claim against anyone for a copyright violation, you can use your copyright certificate to fight for statutory damages in court. Without a confirmed copyright, it is very unlikely that you have a case. You will have to try to settle with the infringer outside of court. Certainly, you can threaten to speak with an attorney, but if the violator is aware that you didn’t register your copyright, that won’t go over too well…

Finally, if you take your career as an author seriously, purchasing your own copyright is an important step in the publishing process. There is certainly a cost involved, but the protection and professionalism that results will most likely prove invaluable.

Ultimately, choosing to register the copyright for your work is a personal and important decision that only you can make. Consider your audience, how important is to protect your work from infringement, and how serious you take your career as an author before making such a decision.

Cheri Breeding ABOUT CHERI BREEDING:
Since 2005 Cheri Breeding has been working as the Director of Production for Outskirts Press. In that time, she has been an instrumental component of every aspect of the Production Department, performing the roles of an Author Representative, Book Designer, Customer Service Representative, Title Production Supervisor, Production Manager and, Director of Production. She brings all that experience and knowledge, along with an unparalleled customer-service focus, to help self-publishing authors reach high-quality book publication more efficiently, professionally, and affordably.
Book Promotion Strategy

Consider Your Sales Annotation Early In the Publishing Process

You’ve written a book that you’re ready to publish. Now you have to decide on quite a few key ingredients – including how you will publish the book (i.e. will you use a self-publishing company or try to publish on your own), what price you will set it for, etc. One thing that’s fairly simple to overlook when you’re starting the process is how you will market your book. Aside from some of the more obvious reasons why authors should start thinking about marketing early on in the process, you should also consider your marketing plan when putting together your sales annotation.

What is a sales annotation, you ask? That’s a great question! It’s the information about your book that is submitted to sites like Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, etc. Sometimes authors opt to have this match what’s shown on the back of their book. However, this isn’t necessary, and I actually recommend that your annotation be different because your online description not only describes your book, but it also can be neatly packaged with your book’s keywords because you can fit more information in an online description space than on your back cover.

In the example below, you’re able to see the online description for Sell Your Book on Amazon that can be found on Amazon.com:

As you can see from the above image, it is important to not only describe your book in a way that will entice your reader but also make sure that you are using your keywords frequently.

DISCUSSION: What tips can you share for writing a solid sales annotation?

ABOUT WENDY STETINA:
Wendy Stetina is a sales and marketing professional with over 30 years experience in the printing and publishing industry. Wendy works as the Director of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps and publishing consultants; and together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction, or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Wendy Stetina can put you on the right path.